Birthstone of the Month: Pearls

June 03, 2022

Happy birth month to all you June (Gemini + Cancer) babies! This month, we're celebrating PEARLS, the June birthstone. Read on to find out a little more about the history of pearls, their healing properties, and a few of our top picks in store right now.

Brief History of the Pearl

Pearls have been around for centuries- at least as far back as ancient Greece. These ancient peoples believed they were literally tears of the gods and they were therefore highly cherished. Because they were discovered so long ago, long before any written history we have, they’re officially the world’s oldest gem. And while we don’t know exactly who was first to discover them, it’s assumed that they were found along the seashore when people were looking for food.

They were rare, with only affluent nobles being able to afford them, and in the first century BC, Julius Caesar even made a LAW that only the ruling class were allowed to wear them. Portraits of royals from all over the world, especially England, have shown them wearing pearls as jewelry and adorned on their clothes.

Pearls became much more accessible around the start of the 20th century, when commercial culturing began in Asia. These “cultured pearls” have become almost all of the pearl market (replacing natural) in modern times and have made accessorizing with pearls affordable to most.

Healing Properties of the Pearl

Unlike any other gemstone, pearls are created organically inside a living mollusk. Whether natural or cultured, it forms when a type of irritant (like a piece of a shell or a parasite) is lodged in an oyster’s soft inner body. The irritation causes the oyster to secrete a crystalline substance that builds up around the irritation in layers, which eventually forms a pearl. This process can take anywhere from six months to several years.

Because of this completely unique creation process, the healing power of pearls is profound. It suggests that, similar to the asteroid Chiron, the wound can also be the gift.

Pearls are associated with the inner body. They can be supportive for birth and throughout the fertility journey. They radiate a divine feminine energy because of their association with water and the Moon’s cycles and are known to promote inner wisdom. They bring up similar ideas of The Hermit in Tarot and encourage an internal journey for growth.